Congress Blocks F-35 Fighter Shipments to Turkey

Lawmakers also demanded immediate release of US citizens

Congressional defense lawmakers officially barred deliveries of the fifth-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Turkish forces, inserting the ban into the final version of the Pentagon’s budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year.

House and Senate conferees adopted the legislation, which prohibits shipments of the advanced, multi-role jet fighter to Ankara’s forces until the Pentagon delivers “an assessment of a significant change in Turkish participation in the F-35 program, including the potential elimination of such participation,” defense lawmakers wrote.

Defense lawmakers also demanded the immediate release of U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson, as well as any other “U.S. citizens wrongfully or unlawfully detained in Turkey,” in legislative language included in the defense spending bill, now headed to the White House for President Trump’s signature.